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What does your bass sound like unplugged?

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#1
I'm genuinely interested in this... unplugged my Wal fretless still sounds exactly like you expect a Wal fretless to sound, no amplifier needed. The same for my '63 Precision, acoustically it is unmistakably a Fender Precision with the same tone you're going to hear when you plug it in. My Guild fretless, great bass though it is, doesn't have that pronounced acoustic character.

I wonder if with the classic basses it is all in the wood and build of the basic instrument, and only superficially in the electronics?
 
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#3
I'm with you OP. Ironically, my current favorite isn't all that amazing unplugged. But it sounds great plugged in (5 string P bass).

I have lamented in several threads about wanting to kick myself for not buying a '63 refin P bass I recently played at Carter Vintage in Nashville. One of the things that blew my mind is how that bass resonated unplugged. It was the loudest unplugged bass I have ever played.
 
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#5
Some that I've had that sounded loud unplugged have sounded mighty thin when plugged in, some have sounded great, but some basses are just lunkers. I don't seem to have much luck with basswood. Everyone I've owned has sounded acoustically magical, yet somehow sounds like a brick plugged in. That's just ime, by the way. I've also had some heavily lacquered "nitro" alder basses that sounded like a dry fart too. Luck of the draw, I guess.
 
#8
I almost always "test out" a bass first unplugged (come on, we ALL do) just to get the feel of it, the balance of the instrument, especially string to string. It's not so much the "tone" it produces, as the general "timbre" and amount of responsiveness/evenness under my fingers BEFORE you bring the electronics into play.

So, not really the TONE, but YES to the things you can tell about the instrument even before plugging the bass in.
 
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#9
OK, I'll play.

My Rivoli sounds pretty loud unplugged. Very resonant, but then again it should be. It's a semi-hollow body.

Partsbass j copy (GFS body, MM neck) sounds tiny and thin without being plugged in.

Affinity Precision (with tapewounds) sounds a little resonant but otherwise pretty thin.
 
#10
How a bass sounds acoutstically IMO does have a relationship to how it sounds plugged in. The information is the same whether acoustic or electromagnetic. I also believe the mass, density, and shape of the bass (i.e. The distribution of mass) all play a part in creating the character or timbre of the instrument. I may be unusual in my view that I feel shape or distribution of mass is a pretty fundamental part of the character.

Stay tuned though. I suspect one or two people might disagree.
 
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#11
A bass is an electromechanical signal generator. The oscillator is a mechanical device: the vibrating metal string.

So whatever your electronics downstream do to that signal, what that string sounds like before the pickups get to it is what your signal chain has to work with.

I am with the OP. I like to see what a bass sounds like unplugged. I have noticed that my basses sound like "themselves" unplugged, especially my Rickenbacker. My Westone is probably the most finicky when it comes to amplification due to it's very hot wound pickups; it tends to thicken and darken up the sound so I prefer fresh bright strings on it more often.
 
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#15
My full hollowbody Höfners (the '64 Senator in my avatar and the slightly thicker '60 500/3) sound even better unplugged. The solid bodies, I couldn't have guessed the amplified sound of the instrument just by playing them unplugged.
 
#16
ficelles said:
I'm genuinely interested in this... unplugged my Wal fretless still sounds exactly like you expect a Wal fretless to sound, no amplifier needed. The same for my '63 Precision, acoustically it is unmistakably a Fender Precision with the same tone you're going to hear when you plug it in. My Guild fretless, great bass though it is, doesn't have that pronounced acoustic character.

I wonder if with the classic basses it is all in the wood and build of the basic instrument, and only superficially in the electronics?
Click to expand...
||: -DHAR DHAR DHAR-DHAR DHAR DHAR DHAR- :||
That's what it sounds like when I play a swing kinda jazzy bassline.
 
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#19
In the shop I put my ear to the back of the neck and play the open strings to get a feel for the timbre. Same for the body. I have done this a few times so I know when I like the result. I think mostly I get a feel of the density this way, to measure the amount of natural compression in that particular wood combination and contruction. Pickup and string types play a huge part to the amplified sound, but those can be changed later if you need something a little different in that department.
If weight, color, fretwork, sturdy construction feel, responsiveness, and even the price is right, then you are golden :)
If you are shop slapper, then how new the strings are and the low setup plays a big part there and then.
All imo :)
 
#20
megafiddle said:
So how does this work with a bass with two pickups?

A neck and bridge pickup obviously sound very different through an amp.

Which does the unamplified bass sound like?

A bit of a problem, no?

-
Click to expand...

Unplug your bass and put a ear against the back of the body, at the neck joint, and pluck a string. Do the same but at the bridge height: you'll hear two similar sounds but with different frequencies emphasized. That's what the magnets pick up according to the location inside the body.
 
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